OT: BCFX

[quixian]

I just got my package with BCFX (Black College Football: The Xperience) and am installing it now. Will post some impressions / facts in a bit as I come across things in the game.

[quixian]

Installation isn't even done yet, and there is some good news - the rosters appear to be saved in .xml format.  I was able to right click on one and open as text file and it appears to be readable (and hopefully editable).  I'm not super familiar with .xml stuff, but I believe it can be pretty easily worked with.  More info as I find it.

[quixian]

OK, got the game installed and was able to play about a game and a half....now here's a few quick impressions to pass along:

- Great arcade gameplay - very similar to the 360/PS3 version of NCAA Football 08. There is no "jump the snap" or "momentum meter" gimmicks but you can get a player "Nerjyzed" if you make a few big plays. It's pretty similar to when you get an "impact player" on a hot streak or in the zone on NCAA 08. Gameplay feels pretty challenging, swift (but not too fast, imo), and fair.

- Game modes are as follows:

Quick Game - Essentially, play an exhibition game with 2 teams you choose from the roster of active teams.

Classics Mode - Lets you play one of the annual "Classic" games. Much like playing Rivalry Mode in NCAA 08. I was able to play the Florida Classic (FAMU vs BCC), which I haven't seen in person since it left Tampa sometime in the 90s.

Practice Mode - self explanatory.

5th Quarter Mode - Lets you play the battle of the bands minigame, which is something like playing guitar hero / frequency. I didn't mess with that much yet.

- There is NO season mode. This is the only real complaint I have with the game thus far.

- Editability - seems like you might be able to edit the team names and full rosters from viewing the .xml files that are included with the game. The graphics may be more tricky, however, as the files have proprietary extensions (.nee and .bcf) - which means they may open using an Unreal editor or something similar, or they may not be editable. Hard to say without having tried anything yet. I'm guessing the playbooks are hard-coded as well, but will look around a bit to see what I can find out.

Overall early impression - worth the $30 for me as I don't have a 360/PS3 right now and was kind of looking forward to playing an arcade college football game with next-gen graphics. Definitely not a good choice of a game to create your own football universe, but we have MaxFB for that. So, it depends on what you're looking for. I'm going to give it more playtime and it *may* ultimately move ahead of Madden PC for my arcade FB fix. MaxFB is still unquestionably my game of choice for custom leagues, art and plays.

[Mykal]

No season mode ???????????

Thanks man, that keeps my Pounds and pence in my pocket

For me no season mode, means no buy
cheers quixian, saved me some money

Mykal

[David Winter]

That's a long credits list....

[DONMVP]

Glad someone reviewed it . Sounds ok , except for the no season bit .

[quixian]

LOL @ the credits list.  I think they credited quite a few of the schools' band performers they worked with.  They even managed to work in a shout-out for the classic film Iron Eagle's own "Chappy" Sinclair, Lou Gossett, Jr.  Gotta love that.  [:D]
 
Thanks to the mods for allowing these off-topic discussions of other PC sports titles, by the way.  That being said, to keep the MaxFB forums clutter-free, I'll probably start up a thread at FBFreaks or EAMods with further impressions of the game as I get a chance to play it more.   

[Marauders]

Thanks to the mods for allowing these off-topic discussions of other PC sports titles, by the way. That being said, to keep the MaxFB forums clutter-free, I'll probably start up a thread at FBFreaks or EAMods with further impressions of the game as I get a chance to play it more.

I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to allow threads about competitor's products, but it is a good opportunity to see what Maximum Football has and they do not.

I see many PC football games that have come out or are coming out with some features or graphics that make them look nice, but so far I have not seen one match what Maximum Football can do with playbooks and gameplans. When it comes to rule sets, nothing somes close.

I have kept an eye on Backbreaker, BCFX, and other games, and I know that David has as well. It's always a good idea to know what's out there. Most of us play other football games other than Maximum Football, and I would hope that Madden, FOF, BCFX, and other game players would also take a good look at Maximum Football.

They even managed to work in a shout-out for the classic film Iron Eagle's own "Chappy" Sinclair, Lou Gossett, Jr. Gotta love that.

I did notice that. Perhaps he has a voice-over role.

[therhino]

I guess I won't be buying BCFx. 1. No league mode and 2. The game isn't ment to be edited. Thanks quixian for posting on it you just saved me $30.
TheRhin
 

[local8h]

Wow quixian, thanks for that infos, i guess i just saved myself 30 bucks. how could they make a game with out a season mode thats a shame.

thanks again for letting us know.

[therhino]

How did they get the grahics they got? Those are pretty amazing.
TheRhino

[garysorrell]

Isnt it the unreal engine? Or am I mistaken.

[therhino]

I wish David could get that engine. Maximum Football would sell like crazy. Those graphics kill Maddens and with all the other cool features David put in the game it would be amazing I think how many people would jump on with MaxFB.
TheRhino

[Marauders]

From the vids I have seen, the stadiums and models don't look to have any more polys than Maximum Football - maybe even less.  They have sort of a comic book quality to them, but the motion capture helps with the animations.  Of course, I am looking at vids and not the game itself.
 

[Mykal]

ORIGINAL: Marauders

I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to allow threads about competitor's products, but it is a good opportunity to see what Maximum Football has and they do not.

Man, Freedom of speech and all that Marauders
Besides, trying to silence people would be a bad idea (in my humble opinion)
So Far, For my money MaxFootball more than matches upto other Titles

Crisp clean quality graphics are nice but if the game lacks depth, who wants it
they soon become shelf titles in my house anyway, played once or twice, then stored away to collect dust.

The Game depth that Max Football brings to the table more than over shines graphics

Folk post about Madden and other titles.........so what
show me one post were someone said "Madden is Better" or any other Football title for that matter.

In Short "Max Football" ROCKS, bring on the competion.

Just my 10 cents

Mykal

[local8h]

Crisp clean quality graphics are nice but if the game lacks depth, who wants it
they soon become shelf titles in my house anyway, played once or twice, then stored away to collect dust.


Well Said Mykal, I have so many PC football games along with console thats collecting dust and eye sore on my library
and the only one is not collecting dust is David Winters Masterpiece Maximum Football and yes EA Madden 04...

[David Winter]

Yes they use the Unreal engine. Part of their marketing material calls that out specifically.. something about being the first sports title to use the engine or something like that.
 
It's a very good graphics engine but out of my price range I'm afraid. Based on their manual credits, they're using the motion capture company I'd spoken to about 2 years ago. We'd had some discussions about what it would take and again.. it simply fell out of my price range.
 
They've done a lot of things I'd love to do and found investers with deep pockets. The two games are sort of pointed at two different targets. I'm sure it will work out for them.

[quixian]

Well, if anyone was actually still considering a purchase, let me just say that if you want a competitive CPU opponent, don't bother.  One big flaw is that pretty much every corner route is a money play, and the CPU can't cover those routes to save its life.  I think I went 4-6 for 3 TDs throwing those in 1 quarter.  Needless to say, I won't be spending any further time on it - in fact, I'll probably Ebay it this weekend.  The game has some nice things going for it, especially eye-candy and ear-candy wise and I actually am not too bent out of shape that I bought it, since I am supportive of PC football game development. 

[Mykal]

ORIGINAL: local8h


Crisp clean quality graphics are nice but if the game lacks depth, who wants it
they soon become shelf titles in my house anyway, played once or twice, then stored away to collect dust.


Well Said Mykal, I have so many PC football games along with console thats collecting dust and eye sore on my library
and the only one is not collecting dust is David Winters Masterpiece Maximum Football and yes EA Madden 04...

Same here Gil, loads of football games, most of which never see the light of day
I actually play 3 of them in total

Max football...............obviously
Madden 04.................same as you
and ESPN 2K5 on the XBOX 360 (backwards compatible from the XBOX)

other than that, there all dust gatherers.

Mykal

[David Winter]

I was always a fan of NFL Fever 2000 for the PC. At the time it was graphically very good, but more than that it just seemed to play well. Yeah, no league play or anything, simply play editor. But the game play was pretty good. Fun game.